Advice needed - bringing a horse back into work after 3 years

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ponyforever

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Hi

I am looking for some advice, I have a 12 year old horse who suffered a minor tendon injury three years ago and became a companion as I was focusing on another horse.

He has been out of full work for the last three years, and has only been lightly hacked in the summer months. He has always been happy for a rider to hop on for a short hack. The horse is turned out 24/7 and used to show jump, cross country and hunt prior to the injury.

I would now like to bring him back into full work and see what he is capable of. I am confident to hack him but in the school he can be resistant and sprightly. Ideally I think I would need to send him away on schooling livery to re-start the jumping.

I was wondering if anyone had any success stories with bringing a horse back into work after such a long period of time? Is it realistic?
 
I think it is realistic but as he has had so long off and did injure a tendon I would want to do it really carefully and slowly, at least 3 months hacking to build him up properly before starting any schooling to give him a fair chance, that would be the best time to either send him away of get someone in to help you with the schooling, if you sent him away now a decent yard would want to do the slow hacking before schooling which would be a waste of money if you are happy to do it yourself, if you get going now while the weather is good it makes the slow work more pleasant.
 
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